Will You see Gibson's "The Passion"?

[mburbank]

I know, I know, movies forum.


I had originally intended to see it, because I don't feel as if I can fairly concider the debate. Now, I'm not so sure.

It's not the question of anti-semitism, or the charges that although Gibson says it's 'historically accurate' (a highly debatable claim in the best of circumstances) He's added senes and lines not foound in the Gospels.

It's the level of violence I read about in the reviews. I'm not particulalrly squeamish but the descriptions I've read seem like more of a gore fest than anything I've ever watched, or want to watch.

If the main thrust of the movie is just how awful crucifiction is, I'm not sure I want to watch, any more tan I personally care to watch any execution of an innocent or for that matter guilty party. 45 minutes spent of the scourging seems to me more than a little excessive. The death of Jesus was awful beyond all belief, but the Romans did exactly that to thousands of innocents. I am far more interested in what Jeus did and said in life than a lengthy portrayal of his agony, an agony that has been shared by an untold number of other poor unfortunates throughout human history. This seems like feteshism to me.

But this is the problem. If the violence is as ugly as the reviews I've read suggest, I don't want to see it. But how will I know unless I see it? If the violence is as ugly as the reviews I've read suggest, I think it's pretty scary to be throwing red meat like that around at a time when the world is already awash in religous extremism and needs Jesus message bout Loving your Enemey and turning the other cheek more than ever, but how will I know the theological content of the movie if I don't see it?

What will you all do?

[Cosmo Electrolux]

Mel Gibson is Pat Robertsons new best friend. AS far as I'm concerned, Gibson has lost any credibility he earned as an actor and director by pushing out this pile of shit.....and by saying in public that his wife is going to hell....:/

[theapportioner]

I'll wait a couple weeks, buy a ticket for another movie, see that one, and sneak into "The Passion".

[Brandon]

I'm going to see it, if for nothing more than curiosity.

I think Gibson's gone bat-shit insane, though. He claims to have received "signs" from God, one of which was a person approaching him on the street and saying "Jesus loves you."

Well, you know what they say: God works in mundane ways.

[Perndog]

At least he's not a Scientologist.

I'm going to go see it. In the interest of social harmony (and my date not walking out on me) I'll try not to cheer when Jesus dies.

[AChimp]

I think I'll wait until SolidSnakeASS buys the limited collector's canonized 5-disc DVD box set, becuase it will have, undoubtedly, the best transfer ever.

[Anonymous]

I'll bet the book is better.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

I'm going! It looks to at least be a fairly great film cinematically, even if I don't really care about the whole religious nature of the film. I don't care about the accuaracy, most films play with the details, so it's nothing new. The violence just sounds like realism to me. Either way, the production is very gutsy, since it tackles a very well known story and is in Aramic. I have to go.

[DementedElf]

I will go with no. I don't think any movie about christ is worth seeing, especially one by Mel Gibson.

[Bennett]

my favorite part is going to be when jesus gets his shoulder dislocated, and he has to prop up the cross and bang his shoulder against it, to realign it.

[ranxer]

i hope the critics are wrong that this movie will help spurn a new wave of fundamentalist hatred toward jews, it could possibly get people to transcend the old problems, but i'm definitly NOT going to see it.
i'm soo anti-bandwagon that i'm going to have to rely on reviews till it comes out on rentable media and someone rents it for me..
my wife is going to see it though - she's christian(not the GW kind of christian mind you) and too curious, i'm not that curious.. i go to the big screen for sci-fi only.

[ItalianStereotype]

hence your belief that the Matrix applies to real life.

[Zebra 3]

Originally Posted by mburbank

I know, I know, movies forum.

- Sure, you know.

- Six years of Catholic schooling is enough for me. - Gibson won't line his pocket with my $10.

[Sethomas]

I'd like to see it, but probably not while I'm abroad.

[Bobo Adobo]

I'm going to go see it. I agree with Royal by it being a good cinematic experience. I'm really not a religious person either, but I think a movie about Jesus could be pretty good. Even if you don't believe in Christianity.

I really don't get these big anti-semetic hollywood whiners. It's a part of history dammit. You can't make a movie about Jesus without the Jews being involved. You don't see Germans whining about all these oscar winning hollocaust movies. People who run Hollywood are such fucking hypocrites, all worried about offending people. There shunning a movie that they haven't even seen yet!

Ranxor - not going to this movie shows just how much you are pro-bandwagon. Critics fucking suck. They are way too biased and are just frustrated because they have no talent so they think thay have to tell everybody else they don't to compensate.

[Immortal Goat]

Dammit, Max, I wanted to make this thread! Oh, well. Yours is probably better than mine would have been.

I'm not going to see it, and it isn't because I am not Christian, it is because we all know the story.

It has been told over and over again, and the true nature of the story is not the graphic violence involved with Jesus' death, it is the glory of the resurrection that the Christians believe in. If they wanted to make a REALLY interesting movie, then they should have done it from the prespective of someone else. They should have done the story of just a random person back in that historical time and show the effects it had on the family, the town, and politics. I would pay to see that, and as Max pointed out, Jesus' death really wasn't that special. Thousands of other people died like that. It was the supposed resurrection that made him special.

[mburbank]

I think the anti semitism stem from the fact that Pilot is given a very sympathetic treatment and tthe crucifiction is laid entirely on the jews. Since Jews didn't crucify people and didn't have the legal authority to do so, that seems a bit much. In addition, Pilot is a hostorical figure written about in a few contemporary histories, and is known to have had other Jewish Chrismtic leaders crucified, so it's highly unlikely he thought Jesus should be spared.

These are the reasons the vatican finallt stated as dcotrine that the Jews are not responsible for the execution of Jesus.

Gibson (and Vinth, by the way) subscribe to a fringe element of catholascism that doesn't recognize Vatican II, and interesting position since Catholic doctrine doesn't give catholics the option of not recognizing papal edicts.

[Bobo Adobo]

Originally Posted by Immortal Goat

Dammit, Max, I wanted to make this thread! Oh, well. Yours is probably better than mine would have been.

I'm not going to see it, and it isn't because I am not Christian, it is because we all know the story.

It has been told over and over again, and the true nature of the story is not the graphic violence involved with Jesus' death, it is the glory of the resurrection that the Christians believe in. If they wanted to make a REALLY interesting movie, then they should have done it from the prespective of someone else. They should have done the story of just a random person back in that historical time and show the effects it had on the family, the town, and politics. I would pay to see that, and as Max pointed out, Jesus' death really wasn't that special. Thousands of other people died like that. It was the supposed resurrection that made him special.

Theres a lot stories that have told over and over again. But it's the way that the movies is done cinimatically done that makes it special. If I chose to not to see movies just because I've heard its story I would have only seen 1 or 2 movies.

I learned a lot about about the hollocaust, does that mean that I shouldn't waste my money on a hollocaust movie? I've read "Short-Timers" does that mean I shouldn't go see Full Metal Jacket?

Plus Jesus's death was just as powerful as his supposed ressurection, concidering that he "Died for our Sins" and so on.

Max - from most of what I've heard the movie really doesn't have to do with the Jews killing Jesus. according to this article http://www.americandaily.com/item/4284 They actually deleted the only scene where it could possibly have supported that fact that it was anti-semetic.

[theapportioner]

I hear the Latin pronunciation is terrible, which should be a riot for my Classics friends.

[El Blanco]

I'm Roman Catholic and I won't see it because I am too damn lazy to read subtitles and I already dealt with those languages in high school. I'll probably rent it on DVD if its dubbed.

And Max, yes many, many people had been crucified by the Romans ( I think quite a few of us have seen Spartacus), but no one has ever really gone into just how agonizing it is.

I think I would like to see someone do a trilogy. His early ministries could be the first one ending with the Sanhedrin(sp?) getting to Judas. The second could be the events of the Passion ending with the Crucifiction. And the the third could be about the Resurection ending with the Ascention. I think they would really work if they did it from a third person perspective like IG said.

As for the whole anti-semetism thing: Its not like Jews weren't involved in the crucifiction.

I think Gibson just likes tweaking people with this stuff. Think about it. Braveheart was very inaccurate when portraying the relationship of the nobles and the role of Robert the Bruce. He also went well out of his way to make the English look bad.

Then there was the whole thing about The Patriot.

Now this.

[mburbank]

"I hear the Latin pronunciation is terrible, which should be a riot for my Classics friends."

Funnier yet is the fact that the Latin is perhaps 5the largest historical innacuracy. While some of the players (pilot certainly) would have known Latin, the common tongue was Greek. The Roman army and the Roman civil service were multicultural, and the language they all had in common and spoke to each other wasn't Latin, it was Greek.

[Zebra 3]

Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion of the Christ depicts the suffering of Christ. And that is prompting attacks from some who say that Gibson has been causing the suffering of critters.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is planning to protest Gibson today, descending on his cattle ranch in Columbus, Montana while bearing signs that read: “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and “Honor all of God’s Creations.”

“Anyone who sends cows to slaughter mocks God,” says PETA’s vegan campaign director Bruce Friedrich, who also is a devout Roman Catholic. “Slaughterhouses are the embodiment of violence, bloodshed, and cruelty. If Gibson wants his audience to contemplate the awfulness of inflicting suffering on the innocent, he should show his own animals some mercy.”

Gibson’s rep wasn’t available for comment

[Bobo Adobo]

Fuck PETA.

Join the REAL PETA. People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.

[Pee Wee Herman]

Originally Posted by El Blanco

...I won't see it because I am too damn lazy to read subtitles...

That's pretty goddamn lazy. I'm not questioning your decision to not see the movie. I'm just saying that is really fucking lazy.

[Matt Harty]

I don't really care for religious stuff, so i'm not interested in seeing it. I do enjoy watching the contoversy though. A bunch of catholics and jews whining about their mixed views on some movie about some book about events that probably never happened.